Toothbrushes are used by most people for a limited period of time, typically in the range of one month to less than one year. Because of their widespread use and frequent replacement, the market in toothbrushes is very large.
In the United States and other countries it is common for dental professionals to give complementary toothbrushes to patients at the time of routine dental examinations, teeth cleaning or other dental procedures. Toothbrush manufactures utilize complementary toothbrushes as an opportunity to introduce new products or introduce their product to additional consumers. However, the cost of supplying free toothbrushes is substantial and any reduction of the costs of manufacture is of significance to the toothbrush manufacturer. Alternatively, if the dental professional is paying for the complementary toothbrushes then there is a continuous desire to reduce this cost.
The large volume of toothbrushes produced every year also indicates the economic significance of any invention which can produce significant savings in the costs of production. Accordingly, there is a continuing interest in producing less costly toothbrushes.
The need for greater economy in the production of toothbrushes is of particular concern for toothbrushes which provide compound brush fields. Compound brush fields utilize several brush segments or fields which are supported is a manner which allows differing action. Such compound brush fields are advantageous in providing combined brushing of the top and sides of teeth in a single pass. However, such compound field toothbrushes are relatively more expensive to construct and therefore are in particular need of greater economy of production.
Health considerations are also significant in the production and distribution of toothbrushes. Prior to this time it has been effectively impossible to economically present sterilized toothbrushes for sale. Accordingly, toothbrushes sold before now are not sterile. This difficulty exists because inexpensive sterilization involves beaming bacteriocidal rays, such as ultraviolet light, onto the surfaces being sterilized. However, this inexpensive sterilization technique cannot be used with prior toothbrush designs because the interstices between the bristles receive only an attenuated intensity of the ultraviolet beam and sterilization cannot be assured. Autoclaving is an alternative sterilization procedure which can be used to produce a sterile toothbrush. Unfortunately, the cost of processing toothbrushes through an autoclave is too high to be practical.
The current invention includes a novel toothbrush construction which is easy and economical to produce and provides compound brushing fields. Of equal significance it provides a design which can be manufactured and sterilized using economical ultraviolet sterilization techniques. It also includes novel methods for constructing such a toothbrush. Other advantages and benefits of the invention are indicated or apparent from the description of the invention given herein.